STAR
by Michiko-Sakura
Summary: VxH. They went through unspeakable hardships and managed to fall in love when nothing existed but darkness. The darkness engulfed everything. They gave up on everything except on each other. 'The Assignment' detailed version


_**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from The Vision of Escaflowne. I do own, however, this storyline. Additional characters and their names are purely fictional and if there had been some real-life faces to their names, please believe me that it is purely coincidental.**_

**A/N: Ok this is my third 'The Vision of Escaflowne" fan fiction. It's just a one-shot deal and I don't plan on making this all length and stuff. This is just a one-chapter deal. It will be a drift away from my usual way of writing (ok this is still my style of writing), it will definitely be really different from my other works. Anyway, this is it. I won't keep this long. I hope you enjoy as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please do send in your reviews. I would really like to know what you think about it.**

**Michiko**

S.T.A.R

See That ANGEL Rise

_Hi! My name is Hitomi Kanzaki. I am sixteen years old. Yeah. I am in second year of high school right now. I'm just an ordinary teenager trying to survive high school and all that teen drama. But you know, I am a little different from the people around me. You see, I have this 'gift'. I can be a clairvoyant at times. I can tell people's fortunes at utmost accuracy at times. Because of this, it can get really lonely sometimes. People can be pretty cruel to someone like me. That's why I don't like to talk about it much. I don't even dare to use it…it just happens sometimes. But not all people are mean to me. I do have friends. But I guess you can say that this world does not believe in magic anymore and condemns those who receive a little more something. Or maybe because I came from the province away from the busy and modern world like the one in Tokyo…there are a lot of mysticisms that goes on behind closed doors. So I guess I can understand why they would hate my existence in a way. Don't get me wrong though. I don't hate the people in my home village. I could never do that. They will always hold a special place in my heart. Even if there were some who were really awful, there were also a lot of people (like I said) who were really, simply wonderful. With that, I can never look down or be ashamed at my past. I welcome it with open arms as I welcome the present and the future._

_I keep everything I can do in terms of that 'gift' hidden. No one in my new school knows. All but one person knows. Don't worry. He doesn't go around blabbering about it. No. As a matter of fact, he is such a gentleman. He covers for me at times when I get caught up in that mystical thing. He's such a sweet guy, a trusted friend, a wonderful confidant, he's name is Van Fanel. We have been friends for a very long time. I can tell him almost anything that I can't tell my other friends, things that I can't even tell my best friend, Yukari Uchida. Right now, she is studying abroad because of her dad's work but she said that she'll be back next school year. So right now, all I have is Van. Anyway, I'm not complaining. That's the farthest from my mind. I love Van with all my heart. He showers me with nothing but love and great understanding so why would I complain? blush_

_Right now, since I know it cannot be hidden forever, my new schoolmates just know that I fool around with tarot cards. Actually I like the people in my new school. They seem not to judge me as being a 'witch' or of the sort but just me, Hitomi, the one who plays with tarot cards and guess into the future. Basically that's who I am really. It's not my fault that there are times that my predictions and visions can be accurate. I've noticed that that only happens when something really bad is supposed to happen. Why it never tells me the best news to the people, I will never really know._

_Oh by the way, I joined the school's tract team. I guess it's my outlet in a way. I get to go places when we compete, not to mention met a lot of people. blush I even met Amano Susumu. He's an upper classman who was also part of the tract team during my freshman year. I find him really cute but I would never admit to that in front of him. He's really awesome. He's a great athlete, not to mention an ace student. A lot of people admired Amano-sempai (I was and perhaps still in a way one of them). But then, I only had one year (if ever I have the guts of telling him how I felt or at least thought). I guess I left that to fate. I won't do any tarot readings on that. I vowed that I wouldn't use the tarot cards or try to see into the future unless I really need to, like when someone is determined to have their fortunate guessed or if I really can't help it and it comes to me. I don't use my gift. When it comes I allow it but I don't call upon it._

_As it turned out, things were far greater than I would have expected. Van and I became really close (we were already really close but I guess you can say that we had learned to open our hearts to each other). We eventually decided to take a leap to the next level. It has been like heaven since then. We fight and stuff but it only makes us stronger, stronger individuals, stronger couple. blushes profusely… _

_Anyway, enough of that…my whole life story isn't the reason why I have agreed to do this. I wanted you to know how I got this far. Maybe to help you realize that there is always hope when you believe. Even if you don't but others around you do, you might just be surprised on what can happen. _

_It was two years ago. It was my last year in junior high. We were all preparing to enter high school. I wasn't in Tokyo then. I was back home, back in our village. It's a small village about 8 hours from Tokyo by bus. It was a laid back community where old beliefs are still felt. All the town's folks know one another. _

_My family was well known because we decent from the Mystic Moon. Yes. I know how it sounds. Like I said, there are a of mysticisms that happen behind closed doors. Our family served as guardians to the town, guardians of the spirits of nature and everything there. It gets lonely because your family can really be protective or that other people will just like you, not really for who you are but because of what you are. You make friends but you're afraid to tell them some of your feelings because of what they might think or that they might believe it's an omen. Then, you might think that everyone is your friend because of your background but there are others who think ill of us. I'm not certain why but I wouldn't want to judge them. Some people say that they are jealous. Still others, they want the power we have. But there are some who believe that they are threatened by us and think that we might just turn against the village. I guess that's the forces of good and evil working right there. A balance so delicate that it threatens to tilt to one side if we weren't careful, which eventually happened…I guess it had to happen some time._

_But you know, not every one in our family inherits the 'gift'. It chooses the next person who will yield the power. It just so happens, that it skipped my mother's generation. The next was me. The only two people who were living then with the power were me and my grandmother. Come to think of it, it makes me miss her more. She was a very kind and gentle woman who had always a smile on her face. She loved the village and the people there. She was a very wise person too. But as certain as life, death too was certain. No one can escape from that. Actually it all began, my grandmother becoming weak due to sickness, at the time the tips of the balance were disturbed. Her age was not merciful to her and soon the angel of death took her away._

_You see, when people tend to twist fate for their own purposes, things like this are bound to happen. It will not really be them who will suffer but those closest to that person, not to mention the people whom he will be doing his cruelty to. At that time, it was Dilandau Albatou's doing with the intersession of Dornkirk, one of the oldest advisers of the village. Dilandau wanted power to rule, perhaps to satisfy his blood thirst. Dornkirk wanted to be able to see into the future, to mold the future in his hands, wanted to take away all the negative aspects in life. He failed to understand that there are always two sides and that one cannot exist without the other._

_I still didn't have complete control over my gifts then. My grandmother was still teaching me when it all began. I still wish that things didn't have to turn out like that but that is just how fate works. You can't dictate anything to it. You can only let it work out the plan to make us the people whom we ought to be. _

_It seemed that since the scale has been tipped, the negative spirits came and was at Dilandau's disposal. Fear and despair filled the village. When the sun would start to set, I remember hearing and witnessing people drop everything and run within the safety of their homes, lock their doors and close everything. No light can be seen every where. It is believed that when you light a candle, it is supposed to guide a lost soul to the next life. But since everything was ot of order, it only invited the evil spirits in. They would then suck your life away from you. They take away your essence by feeding on your fear and desperation. That is if you are lucky._

_If Dilandau happens to come along or if it isn't a spirit but rather a demon, unspeakable things are done not only to you but to your family. Yes. I've seen and heard villagers, friends being murderer and torn into pieces. It was terrifying and gruesome so I won't go into details. I would weep bitterly and wished that I could control my powers more effectively. Luckily, not only was my grandmother still there but also Van. Yes. Like I said, wee have known each other for a very long time. He came to live in the village when his parents died a long time ago. His brother had suffered the same fate as other villagers when he tried to save a little girl. He gave his life for her, for every one. Van fought along side us to return the balance._

_But my grandmother was weakening and fast. Her sickness crept slowly but surely to every bone of her body. She finally succumbed to deep, eternal slumber one fateful dawn. When the villagers learned of her death, a silence hush spread throughout the village. It seemed that all hope had died with her. I still didn't have control over my powers and Van wasn't strong enough to battle all the forces of darkness on his own. It seemed that the entire village not only mourned the loss of my grandmother but also of their own. They knew I had the gift but they didn't believe in me._

_To tell you the truth, when she died, I felt that I died with her and I was nothing but a mere shell. I didn't know what to do. I was afraid of my gifts because I knew that if I screwed up, it would mean not only my life but the entire village, or perhaps the whole world. Can you take it all when you're only fourteen? Fate was cruel to me. It gave me a gift I cannot control and a responsibility so great._

_Van was my strength during this time. We would go out and fight but it was him who did all the fighting. He told me that tears wouldn't help. It would only make my grandmother sad from where she was now. He said I had to get up and fight. He said that it didn't matter if I haven't gotten my powers under control yet as long as I fought with everything I had. He reminded me that there are far more important things that my fear and my despair. He gave me back my courage._

_I fell into the grips of darkness. I was losing my life. I was ready to give in. but Van uttered words at that moment that made me come back. Van became my salvation. The words he uttered, words that I would never forget are, "Hitomi, we can't expect things to go perfectly and we can't expect things to get done if we don't do something about it. Get up! I believe in you! When my parents and brother died, I was nothing. You showed me that there are still things to live for. Don't turn your back on that now! I am with you! I will not leave you! I need you to be here by my side so don't you even dare to give up. I won't let you!" He took me into his arms and I could feel his hot tears flowing from his eyes to my cheeks. He was desperate to get me back. He was desperate. It wasn't his words I heard but his heart. I've never known Van to cry. I never saw him like that, so desperate and determined. _

_Soon I found myself crying in his arms. He just wrapped his arms around me and comforted me. He then whispered in my ear, "I am with you now, Hitomi. I will stand by you and I will fight for you and this village. If you still believe that you can't do it on your own, then believe in me. Believe that together we can make things right." I pulled away from him and nodded. That was when I learned of his secret. He was the last of the Draconian race who yields the spirit of the dragon, Escaflowne. _

_My training, my grandmother's words and teachings, my confidence, my faith, it all came crashing back to me. For once, I trusted in my capabilities and I believed in me. With Van, we fought Dilandau and Dornkirk. Before the sun rose the next morning, we had earned the right to tame the negative spirits of the land and return peace to the land. Together, we have also earned the right to make a decision for the safe-keeping of the balance. We erased all the people's knowledge about my family, the Mystic Moon, the dragon, the darkness and everything that has got to do with magic. The village still holds the tales and beliefs, but now it only remains in folklore and nothing more. Now in silence we stand guard, it was better this way._

_I never thought we would live through what we did, all our loses, all our hardships. I never thought I'd be here in Tokyo studying high school, being a normal teenager who experiences crushes and being in a steady relationship and going through life. I never thought I would make a dream come true. I thought that I would always wait for dreams to come. Now the future is endless. I don't need to take a peak into it to tell that everything in this world will continue on its course. _

_It's been two years. The life I have now and the life I have back then are worlds apart. I don't regret moving on and finding the rawness life can bring you day after day. I made a choice to keep moving forward, to look back every once in a while to remember the lessons I've learned to make a better future. At sixteen you don't really expect yourself to talk like this. But I guess after going through everything, it's inevitable. When I finish high school, I plan to go to college and study to become a doctor. I know, I know. With the visions and all it would be a very emotionally straining life but I think and believe that I can make a difference with that. At least when I return to the village, I can serve the people more than just being Hitomi Kanzaki. I'd be a doctor then._

_As for me and Van, we are enjoying each other's company. We don't exactly know where this will take us but we know that we will always be there for each other no matter what happens. I don't know if you really got something from this but I'm sure you will now think that you are lucky. There are far worse things that could happen in this world. You are lucky you are not one of them. You have friends and family, so much to live for just like me. Just believe in yourself. There is magic everywhere you look and inside of you. Never lose sight of that. You can make a difference if you believe. And if you can't believe in yourself or if it seems that the whole world is against you and no one believes in you, think again. There will always be a person who will believe in you and will push you to achieve greatness. You just have to keep a look out like I did with Van._

_Take care and be safe. You are protected, now and forever so live your life._

"Well, what do you think Van? I wrote this in about I don't know three hours." Hitomi said as Van finished reading her manuscript. Van eyed the piece and then at Hitomi. "Is that why you look like you haven't slept at all?" "Come on Van. Like that matters." "What time did you sleep anyway, if you even slept?" "2 am." Hitomi answer, still quite anxious about what Van was to say. Van took a deep breath. He looked at Hitomi lovingly and a little uneasy. "Are you sure you want the world, or at least the class to know this?" Hitomi laughed. "Whose going to tell them it's all real? Our assignment was to write a short story. That's it. Plain and simple. The teacher didn't say it had to be 'non-fiction'." Van was still a little uneasy. Hitomi just wrapper her arms around her boy friend's neck. She knew that he was only thinking of her, only her. She planted a small kiss on his lips and said, "The truth will always be our secret. All they need to know is that this is an assignment. Do you really think they will believe this to be a non-fictional thing?" Van just smiled at her. "No. They wouldn't. They would just think that the girl who plays around with tarot cards has an active imagination, fitting for someone like her and that she not only possesses the power to guess into the future and capture a certain someone's heart, she can write something that can make you believe and actually be engulfed into a story, passing it as real." Hitomi just giggled as Van wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.

THE END

**A/N: Now that it's all finished and stuff, a fleeting thought came to mind. If this were read by many and reviewed, maybe I will make another version of this, same storyline (well not really a little different perhaps because of all the details) and everything only that it will be more detailed like distributed in different chapters. But who knows? We shall see. Please review. I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks.**

**Michiko**


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